Ballutes Studied For Hypersonic Space Vehicles
HyperCMST will simulate the use of ballutes in space missions. However, take a look at this video clip from the movie 2010 to really get a feel for ballute deployent. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Kindle Orwellian Nightmare
An edition of the Times which might have been rewritten a dozen times still stood on the files bearing its original date, and no other copy existed to contradict it. (re: George Orwell)

SolarEn To Sell Satellite Solar Power
This idea has been kicked around by sf authors for several generations. Has the time for SBSP (space-based solar power) finally come? (re: Clifford Simak)

COLBERT Treadmill Long SF History
Here are at least three references to early exercising strategies in space. How many can you think of - before people actually spent much time in orbit? (re: Murray Leinster)

Yahoo Japan's Minority Report Billboards
Do you really want to walk past a screen, and then find out what a corporate face recognition algorithm thinks you are - young or old, rich or poor, male or female? (re: Stephen Spielberg)

Flying Micro-Robot Has Pincer
With a laser-activated pincer and weighing just 3 hundredths of an ounce, this micro-robot might someday be a fly on the wall of your clean room. (re: Robert Forward)

Supernumerary Phantom Limb Confirmed
Extremely rare case of an additional phantom limb; fMRI confirms that the patient can use it to feel as if she scratches herself. (re: Larry Niven)

Air Conditioned Coffins
I doubt that an air conditioned coffin would keep you cooler for eternity - but maybe for a more comfortable half-life. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Iceland's Krona Worth More In MMORG EVE Online?
As we move back and forth between real and virtual worlds, it gets harder to tell where the real money is. (re: Various)

Plant Is First Person Shooter
Who knows, perhaps border vegetation has more of a role to play in Homeland Security than we thought. (re: Various)

3D HD da Vinci Surgical Robotics
This remarkable system lets you perform microsurgery in binocular hd. (re: Raymond Z. Gallun)

A-Pod Robot Hexapod Video
Is there an uncanny valley for insectile robots? If so, this one is wiggling right on through it. (re: Michael Crichton)

MichelAngelo Bionic Hand
Evoking the image of Michelangelo's Hand of God, a new prosthetic device is successfully implanted. (re: Martin Caidin)

Miniature Telescope Implanted In Eye
Although implanting a telescope in the eye is impressive, I find myself wondering when the implant will offer 10x magnification. (re: Various)

Robot Scientist Makes Autonomous Discovery
Automating the scientific process; I wonder if they'll also automate the process of competing for resources in academia. (re: John M. Faucette)

Fuel Cell Uses Human Blood
Interesting microbial fuel cell that uses yeast to process glucose in blood. Just the thing for that implant you were looking at - who needs to go looking for batteries? (re: Various)

Fall Into Black Hole Video
Two researchers create a carefully reasoned explanation of the view from within a black hole on this video. Oh, and you'll need trinocular vision as shown in this illustration. (re: Various)

Flat Flexible Loudspeakers From Warwick Audio
The development of this technology will make possible devices by authors like Ellison, Dick and Sterling. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Wrong Tomorrow - A Brin Predictions Registry?
This site keeps track of predictions, and might help us separate the seers from the blowhards. (re: David Brin)

Robotic Bulldozer Force Doubles In Israel
These remote-controlled behemoths are under control for now. (re: Niven and Pournelle)

Smart Dew Sensor Monitoring
Not quite dust-sized, but we're getting closer. (re: Stanislaw Lem)

Honda Thought-Controlled Robot
If you're going to have a robotic doppelganger, it should move using your thoughts alone. Updated! (re: Various)

Narcisystem Belt - The Biometric Self Captured
In this experiment, biometric data is used to make the environment all about the user. (re: )

Living Robot Has Biological Brain
Recent developments and more details about these robots with reorganized living rat neuron brains. A first step toward swibble-culture, Mr. Dick? (re: Philip K. Dick)

PQ Labs Multi-Touch G2 Hands On Interface
This display might just sneak in ahead of both Microsoft and Apple; video shows how a customized interface can help game play. (re: Various)

Hotelicopter Hovering Hotel
This clever fake also has a nicely 'shopped video. (re: Jack Vance)

Watchmen Science
Physicist Jim Kakalios discusses the science of Watchmen in this video; he uses science fiction to sneak in a lot of interesting science. (re: Various)

Total Health Surveillance Near
Yes, that's right - 24 hours per day, 7 days per week medical monitoring is coming, whether you want to or not. (re: William Gibson)

Tesla Model S Not Your Grandfather's Electric Phaeton
Tesla has finally unveiled their electric car for the rest of us; take a look at the future of the electric Phaeton. (re: John Jacob Astor IV)

ApriAttenda Robot Nurse For Aging Japan
Three main factors are pushing the Japanese into creating these robotic servants, which they will then market around the world. (re: Ray Bradbury)

Brain Chip Hardware Neurons And Synapses
Finally, robots will be able to get the brains they really need, not just some sort of microprocessor. (re: Isaac Asimov)

Helmet-Based Sniper Location System
This system transforms ordinary soldiers into information-gathering 'smart nodes' on a wireless network, ultimately producing a location map of enemy shooters. (re: Greg Bear)

Interactive Digital Billboards Controlled By Phones
I had some thoughts about this variation on the Minority Report-style billboard that takes your info whether you want to share or not. With video. (re: Stephen Spielberg)

Synthetic Human Blood From Embryonic Stem Cells?
The quest for artificial blood continues; the Scots are about to take a stab at it. (re: Various)

Mirrors For Gravitational Waves
Can superconducting sheets reflect gravity waves? Is this causing odd results in the Gravity Probe B experiment? Can H.G. Wells shine any light on these matters? (re: H.G. Wells)

Perspiration As Biometric Identification
Would it be faster to just get sniffed at an airline checkpoint, as opposed to showing ID? (re: Jim Thomas)

Brain Wave Patterns Predict Mistakes
If we work on this a bit more, we might even be able to prethink. Just a little. (re: Philip K. Dick)

MindCite Data Mining Crime Fighting BatComputer
This computer effort combines information from many different sources. Object: crime-fighting. (re: Bob Kane)

Do Elementary Particles Have Free Will?
Princeton mathematicians take their case to the public - if you have free will, so do elementary particles. (re: A.E. van Vogt)

Robotic Fish To Detect Pollution
These lifelike robotic fish will use chemical sensors to find the source of hazardous pollutants in the water. (re: Michael Swanwick)

Carbon Nanotube Muscles
This technology provides an amazing increase in force per unit area of standard (i.e., human) muscles. (re: HG Wells)

Information Age Prayer Pray-O-Mat
Can a machine say prayers for you? Now, you can test it out. (re: Roger Zelazny)

Cajun Crawler Like Segway With Legs - Lots Of Legs
This unique vehicle has the creepiest locomotion I've seen in a while. (re: Various)

CareBot MSR Personal Care Robot
New entry in the home and health care robotics area; it can even make use of your own family's colloquial expressions. (re: Various)

Roomba Detects Emotions Like HAL-9000
Just wait until this device is used to control more powerful technology. Let sleeping Krell lie, I say. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

UK SF Writers On Science Fact
Science fiction writers discuss science and science fiction. (re: Various)

Space Debris Cleanup Suggestions Ignored
It's not like writers didn't do everything they could to sound the alarm - and suggest solutions. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Grapevine Pruning Robot
Do robots deserve a day of rest? New robot prototype perform pruning chores cheaper than people. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Yoshiyuki Sankai And His HAL Exoskeleton
Fascinating series of interviews on video shows how a prominent roboticist read science fiction as a child, and then worked to make it come true as an adult. (re: Isaac Asimov)

BaR2D2 Robot Celebrates St. Patrick's Day
Robotic mobile bar gets into the spirit of the day. Nice hat, BaR2D2. (re: Various)

Robot Land: Robot Theme Park In Korea
Is Robot Land the vacation of the future? You may get your wish by 2013. (re: Michael Crichton)

Giant Sand Worms Once Roamed The Earth
Bless the Maker! Distant ancestors of Shai-hulud once roamed our own Earth. May His passage cleanse the world. Dune fans around the world tremble in fear. (re: Frank Herbert)

Laser Kills Mosquitoes Like Brin's Bee Zapper
This story is even better because it arose in the context of intellectual property; if Brin had the idea in 1990, doesn't he own it? (re: David Brin)

HRP-4C Robot Woman Is A Cybernetic Humanoid
Just wait until the artists supplement the work of engineers; the fact that this robot duplicates humanoid movement within a human form factor is amazing. (re: Fritz Leiber)

U.N. Hosts Intergalactic Representatives
The United Nations is looking for insight into problems that face its members. (re: Various)

Underwater Cities Like Otoh Gunga Next?
We're slowly building the pieces of underwater cities. (re: Roger Zelazny)

UK School Face Recognition: Kiddie Orwell Tech
Surveillance of schools now an enjoyable activity, claims UK school principals. (re: Schachner and Zagat)

Your Blade Runner Technology Is Ready, Rick Deckard
Take a look at seven! classic science fiction tech items, and their real-life counterparts, in this, your Blade Runner future. (re: Ridley Scott)

Precision Agriculture: Robot Gardeners Serve Plant Network
Interesting project by MIT postdoc Nikolaus Correll runs up against a future that Herbert, Dick, Gibson and Crichton all thought about. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Touch EPD Touch Screen EPaper Display
E-paper, e-shmaper - now there's a way to interact directly with your e-paper display, getting rid of those clunky control keys and boards. (re: Greg Bear)

Dynamic Augmented Wheel System Eight-Part Wheel
Interesting concept seems to work as prototype, but despite similarity to smartwheels, I think there is a traditional solution that works better (re: Neal Stephenson)

Spatial Memories Seen In Hippocampus fMRI
With this new technique, it was demonstrated that spatial memories can be seen by others using fMRI, bringing at least one Farscape technology closer to life. (re: Various)

3D Bone Printer Uses Your Cells
I'm thinking of going in and getting a complete set of X-rays; when they ask me what they're for, I'll say 'I want to make sure I have templates.' (re: Frank Herbert)

Evidence.com Virtual Evidence Warehouse By TASER
This company seems to be building what Charles Stross called 'CopSpace' and all of the hardware and software needed to store police 'lifelogs' and geospatial analytics. (re: Charles Stross)

Robot Accepts Gesture Commands
Okay, so you've been gesturing to machines for years. Better watch it - now they know what you're trying to say. (re: Douglas Adams)

Light-Trapping Nanodoughnut Like Slow Glass
Fascinating development shows that it is possible to trap - and hold indefinitely - a photon, releasing it at will. (re: L. Sprague de Camp)

Deep Flight Super Falcon Luxury Submarine
Try flying underwater with this unique submersible from Graham Hawke. (re: Various)

HULC Exoskeleton From Lockheed Martin
New product from LM lets soldiers carry up to 200 pounds for many hours with less fatigue. (re: Fritz Leiber)

Micro Imagers For Sensing On Nano Air Vehicles
Tiny eyes are needed for tiny surveillance drones - and DARPA's MSI program is designing them. (re: Neal Stephenson)

Global Comm Net May Reduce Emissions
Interesting idea for (among other things) reducing emissions of the earthly vehicle fleet. (re: Doctor Who)

TASC - DARPA's Psychohistory
Interesting effort to develop 'branch of mathematics which deals with the reactions of human conglomerates to fixed social and economic stimuli.' (re: Isaac)

3D Television Display In Real Time
Interesting implementation of the 3D display idea; an exemplary video both explains the concepts and demonstrates the device. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Katana Mono-Wing Rotorcraft Nano Air Vehicle
DARPA is financing this coin-sized flying machine; take a look at four imagined futures as well. (re: Raymond Z. Gallun)

'Virtual Cocoon' Virtual Reality Helmet
When you think virtual reality, whom do you think of? Clarke, Bradbury, Dick, Roddenberry? This helmet engages all five senses. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Hamster Controls iRobot Create Vehicle
This hamster knows where he's going; the next step is to soup up this iRobot hobby robot for some real speed. (re: Robert Heinlein)

DESIRE Trash-Tossing Robot
This prototype robot is shown in a CeBIT video distinguishing trash from non-trash. That's better than early sfnal robots could do. (re: Harry Harrison)

RehaBot Physical Therapy Robot Proposed
Interesting use of medical robotics; I can find some precedents for this ideas as far back as 1944. (re: A.E. van Vogt)

NASA's Multi-Robot Planetary Exploration
Science fiction writers caught on to this almost seventy years ago; I'm glad it's finally being addressed formally by NASA. (re: Isaac Asimov)

Aquapeutics Futuristic Luxury Steam Shower
I feel somewhat reluctant to enclose myself in this device, especially without any protective gear, but we must face the future bravely. (re: Robert Heinlein)

Robotic Lunar 'MoonDigger' Bulldozers Planned By NASA
Interesting proposal to make use of teleoperated MoonDiggers to prepare landing pads for upcoming missions to the lunar surface. (re: Pournelle and Niven)

Eye Of God Found - But No Mote
In the Niven and Pournelle novel, a similar sight inspired the founding of the Church of Him. Himmists, take note. (re: Niven and Pournelle)

HyDRAS-Ascent Pole-Climbing Snake Robot Construction Inspector
This remarkable pole-dancing - I mean, pole-climbing - robot is able to ascend to dangerous places so people don't have to. (re: Emmett McDowel)

On-Orbit Space Coffee Cup
Of course, you'll also want to know whether or not adding sugar and/or milk affects the surface tension of your coffee. By astronaut Donald Pettit. (re: Larry Niven)

Kindle 2's Missing Cover
If the Kindle 2 had a cover, it would look like this. (re: Douglas Adams)

Toshiba OLED Video Wallpaper Powered By SF
With this many players in research and development, some kind of video wallpaper is bound to make it into production. (re: Vernor Vinge)

CirculaFloor 'Stair Stepper' Smart Tile Video
Like walking across a stream on stepping stones, the CirculaFloor is a poor man's holodeck. And now, you can walk uphill. With video. (re: Gene Roddenberry)

Sweet Potatoes In Space Questioned By Niven Fans
This apparently innocent story of research into foods that will grow in space may have an sfnal side, especially for Niven fans. (re: Larry Niven)

Newspapers Doomed - SF Writers
Do you think that newspapers have a future? SF writers aren't so sure; Cory Doctorow is just the latest. (re: Cory Doctorow)

iCub Robot Humanoid Child RobotCub
This European open-source robot child is intended to explore human cognition through the medium of a 3 year-old child. With video. (re: Brian Aldiss)

DubMeNow Business Cards Update Magically
Interesting concept for exchanging virtual business cards that opens a link between you, allowing auto-updated information. With video. (re: Neal Stephenson)

Nanny Robot Senses Emotions Of Autistic Children
This robot may be able to use its emotion-sensing abilities to take over for people in the care of autistic children. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

Mii Avatar Wanted Poster For Non-Virtual Manhunt
This story could go in either of two ways - not surprisingly, I like them both. With a surprise reference to Michael Crichton's Runaway. (re: Michael Crichton)

Mobius Circuit Perfect For Science-Fictional Electronics
This seems like the perfect start to your science-fictional electronics project. (re: Various)

BERTI Robot Gestures, Plays Rock-Paper-Scissors
This robot has been practicing conversational gestures to help robots be better understood by humans. With video. (re: Various)

Stanford Writes Nano Letters 35 Bits Per Electron
Can you read the fine print? Imagine a dot matrix printer using drops just 0.3 nanometers in size. (re: Ridley Scott)

Samsung Transparent OLED Display And H.G. Wells
As shown in H.G. Wells' 1936 movie Things to Come - here's your transparent display. They could be a bit larger... With video. (re: H.G. Wells)

BaR2D2 Mobile Bar
Nifty DIY project by Jamie Price would also look good on Jabba's sailbarge. (re: George Lucas)

Taliban Looking For Right iPhone App
In which I put together a Mullah, a iPhone and a missile-launching app. (re: Various)

Kindle 2 Reads Aloud, As SF Writers Predicted
The idea of a mechanized 'book reader' or 'news reader' has been around for more than 100 years; take a look at the imaginative works of five sf writers. (re: Stanislaw Lem)

Bionic Body Armor Makes You Dodge Bullets
Fascinating patent idea by IBM turns everyone - yes, everyone - into a bullet-dodging Neo. (re: Various)

Robotic Breast Exam And Biopsy
The tabletop robot doctor research you read about (here) last summer continues to advance. (re: Michael Crichton)

Robot Baby Crib By Suima
If you have one of those kids who just don't sleep well, there's this mechanical baby bed. (re: David H. Keller)

ITPP Boosts Blood Oxygen Like Star Trek Triox
Tired of fighting aliens on planets where the oxygen level in the atmosphere is too low? Now, you can get an injection that improves the ability of hemoglobin to carry oxygen to the body. (re: Gene Roddenberry)

Star Trek Laser Tissue Bonding Video
Laser tissue welding like on Star Trek (those are the Professor's words, not mine) offers a lot of advantages over conventional sutures. (re: Gene Roddenberry)

'Immaculate' Prosthetic Design Makes Fashion Statement
Interesting design concept opens up a new field for fashion - designer prosthetics. (re: Various)

Pharm Animals - Engineered Goat Makes Drugs In Milk
Amazing genetically engineered goats are the USDA's first approved 'pharm animals' - or fabricows. (re: David Brin)

Yellow Treehouse Cafe - A Tree House Restaurant
Made for a TV ad, this functioning treehouse restaurant would please the Iszic, perhaps. (re: Jack Vance)

Axel Rover Robotic Crater Explorer Yo-Yo-Bot
Nifty video shows the Axel rover, a tethered marsupial rover. Yes, you read that right. (re: E.E. 'Doc' Smith)

Robot Brain Grows As It Learns
New technique - an incremental evolutionary algorithm - lets this robot add layers to its physical brain. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Gundam Robot Slippers Have Giant Mech Sound
I'm still working on an sfnal twist to this story - other than the Gundam angle, of course. (re: Yoshiuki Tomino)

Rotundus Groundbot Robotic Spherical Guardian Video
Take a look at the latest version of the Rotundus spherical robot - it's a beauty. With a GroundBot's eye view video. (re: Niven and Pournelle)

Prism 200 And See Through Walls 3 Other Ways
The Prism 200 is just the latest way to see through walls; I show you three (now FOUR!) other X-ray spec-worth devices. (re: E.E. 'Doc' Smith)

Meet Your Miniature Android Duplicate
New company makes bespoke androids based on your photograph; Chuckie never had it so good. (re: Manly Wade Wellman)

Waterproof Sand Could Green A Desert Planet
It won't be easy to coat each grain of sand in a desert, but hard tasks need hard ways. My legions of Fremen will be using very small brushes. (re: Stanislaw Lem)

Hoverit Lounger Suspended Vonnegut Dream
Quite the lifestyle enhancement, this clear acrylic lets you lounge upon an invisible field of magnetic force. Now with Hoverit Lounger video! (re: Kurt Vonnegut)

Cloaca No. 5 Bionic Bowel, At Last
This art project has a somewhat more serious side; some people with gastric, colon or other cancers could use a bionic replacement. (re: Various)

Skynet Now Generating Paralinguistic Phenomena Via Markup In Text-to-Speech Syntheses
New IBM speech tech simulates human speech so well, you may not be able to judge by voice alone whether it is your mother - or a Terminator. (re: Various)

Reputation As Property
Whether you say 'whuffie' or 'strakh,' young and old sf fans understand the value of reputation. (re: Jack Vance)

Pong-Playing Robot Plus Three Bonus Robot Gamers
This simple yet sort of scary robot excels at one task - computer pong. Oh, and see 3 more examples of robots playing as well as you. (re: Various)

Radio-Controlled Beetle By UC Berkeley
The researchers picked rhinoceros beetles because they look cool - enslaved. (re: Thomas A. Easton)

EATR - DARPA's Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot
Is a voracious autonomous robot able to feed itself and sustain free movement throughout all of eternity a really neat idea? DARPA thinks so - and so do I. (re: Philip Reeve)

Minority Report Ads Watching You Always
Those Minority Report ads that looked stylish in 2002 are starting to look a bit more intrusive now. (re: Steven Spielberg)

Dynamic Agenda Wallpaper Glows With Your Achievements
This room-sized tribute to your busy life is the best possible way to dominate a meeting. (re: Issac Asimov)

Inflatable Church Bouncy Like Heavenly Clouds
Inflatable churches make a lot of sense, just as they did in the novel I read over thirty years ago. (re: John Brunner)

Samsung W7900 Show Cell Phone Digital Projector
Video shows an impressive little projector inside a cell phone; wouldn't you rather watch your pocket videos on a larger screen? (re: Jack Vance)

Planetary Hard Drive
Storing information in natural deposits and fields. (re: Roger Zelazny)

Roadside LED Signs May Not Be Believed
Got kind of a whiff of Neuromancer from this story; makes me think twice about those signs, though. (re: William Gibson)

Chrysler To Help Battle Skynet
Hopefully, they won't be saying 'I'll be back - for more money' anytime soon. (re: Various)

Sweatbot SAM - Sweating Agile Manniquin
Handy industrial research robot or metaphor for our consumer culture? You be the judge. (re: Philip K. Dick)

Biomimetic Robots Blow Your Mind
Robot models challenge your perception of the entire industry; shockingly Suessian. (re: Various)

Japan's Double-Armed Rescue Vehicle
It's handy to have a rescue vehicle with two arms; Ripley might be able to fight aliens with it, too. (re: Various)

Brain Stimulation Enhances Motor Skill Learning
Any shortcuts to learning are appreciated; when can we get it in a convenient helmet form? (re: James Blish)

Rebuild Highways - Or Think Differently
It turns out that Larry Niven had an interesting idea for what to do with highways in our modern age. (re: Larry Niven)

Robots Plus Virtual Reality Equals Better Rehab
Performing physical therapy with a robotic device while under the spell of a virtual reality scenario helps patients do their bets. (re: Various)

Texting UK Police May Control Your Car
This technology may be familiar to fans of Greg Bear. (re: Keith Laumer)

Doll Fabbed From Living Cells
Research brings the fabrication of structures like human organs closer, not to mention android 'blanks.' (re: Gene Roddenberry)

T-34 Security Robot Throws Nets Spidey-Style
This humble robot packs an unusual weapon - a net to cast over intruders. (re: Philip K. Dick)

'Volume Control' Ear Protein Uncovered
Research shows at least part of the mechanism for our ability to protect our ears against extremely loud noises. (re: Larry Niven)

Surgical Robot Bores Into Brain Like Wasp
Let's hope DARPA doesn't get interested in these brain-boring robots. Not that I'm paranoid. (re: Emmett McDowell)

JALURO Lunar Robot - 2-Wheeled Open Source
The Team FREDNET lunar robot offers a unique two-wheeled design; is it stable? See a picture and judge for yourself. (re: Arthur C. Clarke)

i-Limb Bionic Arm Video Embraces The Future
The bionic arm is now easier to use; take a look at the video of the i-Limb arm. (re: Various)

Farmer Exoskeleton Video
This video presents the robotic farmer suit; just the thing for those repetitive motions. (re: Various)

Therapeutic Medical Exoskeleton Prototype
Interesting use of robotics to both amplify lost muscle power and assist in rehabilitation when possible. (re: Fritz Leiber)

Proteus Microrobot Video: A Fantastic Voyage
Scientists have named their microrobot the Proteus, after the 1966 movie. With video. (re: Isaac Asimov)

Broadband Invisibility Cloak - Now You See It
This breakthrough demonstrates that it is possible to build a single material that reroutes light over a broad swath of light wavelengths. (re: Ray Cummings)

Gel Tactile Display
Unique display uses a hydrogel to communicate information via touch. (re: Various)

SG5 Solar Mesh Wetsuit For Aquatic Superheroes From Billabong
This nifty item of apparel is exactly what you aquatically based superheroes have been looking for. (re: Varioius)

Google Maps Public Transit Layer
Google maps has caught up with a sixty-year-old vision of Stanislaw Lem's. Nice going, Google! (re: Stanislaw Lem)

Star Wars Force Trainer (NeuroSky, Not Sith)
Ah, those playful Sith at NeuroSky are at it again. Now, they have a toy for your kids. The 'Force Trainer' is a powerful ally. (re: George Lucas)

Farmer Loves Robot More Than Son
Just to prove to yourself that robot research comes from more places than fancy universities and spotless corporate research labs, take a look at what one Chinese farmer has accomplished. (re: Various)